Fahlstad Designhttp://www.fahlstad.se
Fahlstad DesignWed, 07 Dec 2016 12:02:18 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.3.1How to Hide a WordPress Page From Googlehttp://www.fahlstad.se/how-to-hide-a-wordpress-page-from-google/
http://www.fahlstad.se/how-to-hide-a-wordpress-page-from-google/#commentsWed, 07 Dec 2016 12:02:18 +0000http://www.wpbeginner.com/?p=39481Recently, one of our readers asked if it was possible to hide a WordPress page from Google? Sometimes you may need to hide a page from Google to protect your privacy or to keep away unwanted users. In this article, we will show you how… Read More »

]]>Recently, one of our readers asked if it was possible to hide a WordPress page from Google? Sometimes you may need to hide a page from Google to protect your privacy or to keep away unwanted users. In this article, we will show you how to hide a WordPress page from Google without affecting your site’s overall SEO.

Hiding a WordPress Post or Page From Google

Search engines like Google allow website owners to exclude content from search results. You can do this by using your site’s robots.txt file or using HTML meta tags.

We will show you how to do this in WordPress using two methods. You can choose the one that works best for you.

We will also show you how to password protect posts and pages in WordPress. If you don’t want to use the first two methods, then this approach will allow you to control the visibility of your posts and pages for all users.

First you need to keep in mind that robots.txt file is publicly accessible. Anyone can access it directly to see if there are any pages you are trying to hide.

While most search engines follow the instructions in robots.txt file, many other crawlers and bots may simply ignore it. These are the bots crawling the web to spread malware, target websites, or harvest information like email accounts, phone numbers, etc.

Method 3: Password Protect a Post or Page in WordPress

This method uses a different approach. Instead of asking search engines not to index a page, you can password protect it, so that it is only visible to users with the password.

WordPress comes with a built-in feature to password protect posts and pages. Simply edit the post or page that you want to protect.

Under the publish meta box, click on the ‘Edit’ link next to ‘Visibility’ option.

This will show the visibility options available in WordPress. You can keep a post/page public, make it private, or password protect it.

Private posts are only available to logged in users who have at least editor user role on your website.

Password protected posts can be seen by any visitor who has the password. Click on password protected option and then enter a strong password.

You can now publish or save your post/page.

Now visitors accessing the post or page on your website will be asked to enter the password to view the content.

]]>http://www.fahlstad.se/how-to-hide-a-wordpress-page-from-google/feed/0WordPress 4.7 “Vaughan”http://www.fahlstad.se/wordpress-4-7-vaughan/
http://www.fahlstad.se/wordpress-4-7-vaughan/#commentsTue, 06 Dec 2016 19:27:41 +0000https://wordpress.org/news/?p=4596Version 4.7 of WordPress, named “Vaughan” in honor of legendary jazz vocalist Sarah “Sassy” Vaughan, is available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard. New features in 4.7 help you get your site set up the way you want it.

Introducing WordPress 4.7

Presenting Twenty Seventeen

A brand new default theme brings your site to life with immersive featured images and video headers.

Twenty Seventeen focuses on business sites and features a customizable front page with multiple sections. Personalize it with widgets, navigation, social menus, a logo, custom colors, and more. Our default theme for 2017 works great in many languages, on any device, and for a wide range of users.

Your Site, Your Way

WordPress 4.7 adds new features to the customizer to help take you through the initial setup of a theme, with non-destructive live previews of all your changes in one uninterrupted workflow.

Theme Starter Content

To help give you a solid base to build from, individual themes can provide starter content that appears when you go to customize your brand new site. This can range from placing a business information widget in the best location to providing a sample menu with social icon links to a static front page complete with beautiful images. Don’t worry – nothing new will appear on the live site until you’re ready to save and publish your initial theme setup.

Edit Shortcuts

Visible icons appear to show you which parts of your site can be customized while live previewing. Click on a shortcut and get straight to editing. Paired with starter content, getting started with customizing your site is faster than ever.

Video Headers

Sometimes a big atmospheric video as a moving header image is just what you need to showcase your wares; go ahead and try it out with Twenty Seventeen. Need some video inspiration? Try searching for sites with video headers available for download and use.

Smoother Menu Building

Many menus for sites contain links to the pages of your site, but what happens when you don’t have any pages yet? Now you can add new pages while building menus instead of leaving the customizer and abandoning your changes. Once you’ve published your customizations, you’ll have new pages ready for you to fill with content.

Custom CSS

Sometimes you just need a few visual tweaks to make your site perfect. WordPress 4.7 allows you to add custom CSS and instantly see how your changes affect your site. The live preview allows you to work quickly without page refreshes slowing you down.

PDF Thumbnail Previews

Managing your document collection is easier with WordPress 4.7. Uploading PDFs will generate thumbnail images so you can more easily distinguish between all your documents.

Dashboard in your language

Just because your site is in one language doesn’t mean that everybody helping manage it prefers that language for their admin. Add more languages to your site and a user language option will show up in your user’s profiles.

Introducing REST API Content Endpoints

Content endpoints provide machine-readable external access to your WordPress site with a clear, standards-driven interface, paving the way for new and innovative methods of interacting with sites through plugins, themes, apps, and beyond. Ready to get started with development? Check out the REST API reference.

Settings Registration API

Customize changesets make changes in the customizer persistent, like autosave drafts. They also make exciting new features like starter content possible.

The Squad

This release was led by Helen Hou-Sandí, backed up by Jeff Paul and Aaron Jorbin as Release Deputies, and with the help of these fine individuals. There are 482 contributors with props in this release—the most ever—with 205 of them contributing for the first time. Pull up some sassy Sarah Vaughan on your music service of choice, and check out some of their profiles:

Special thanks go to Rami Abraham for producing the release video and the many fine haiku we saw in the beta and RC announcement posts.

Finally, thanks to all the community translators who worked on WordPress 4.7. Their efforts bring WordPress 4.7 fully translated to 52 languages at release time with more on the way. Additionally, the WordPress 4.7 release video has been captioned into 44 languages.

]]>http://www.fahlstad.se/wordpress-4-7-vaughan/feed/0How to Move WordPress to a New Host or Server With No Downtimehttp://www.fahlstad.se/how-to-move-wordpress-to-a-new-host-or-server-with-no-downtime/
http://www.fahlstad.se/how-to-move-wordpress-to-a-new-host-or-server-with-no-downtime/#commentsTue, 06 Dec 2016 10:00:57 +0000http://www.wpbeginner.com/?p=11740Are you looking to move your WordPress site to a new host or different server? The biggest risk when migrating a website to a new server is data loss and potential downtime. In this step by step guide, we will show you how to properly migrate… Read More »

]]>Are you looking to move your WordPress site to a new host or different server? The biggest risk when migrating a website to a new server is data loss and potential downtime. In this step by step guide, we will show you how to properly migrate your WordPress site to a new host with no downtime.

Important: Before we start, we want to remind you that most WordPress hosting companies offer free migration services. If they don’t publicly state that, then all you have to do is ask. Usually it’s free, but some may charge a small fee.

Step 1: Choose Your New WordPress Host

When looking for a new WordPress hosting provider, it’s important to choose carefully, so you don’t have to move again any time soon.

Here’s who we recommend:

For reliable shared hosting, we recommend going with Bluehost. They’re officially recommended by WordPress.org. And with our Bluehost coupon, WPBeginner users get 60% off and a free domain name.

If you’re looking for cloud hosting or location-specific providers, then we recommend you check out Siteground. They have data centers across 3 different continents.

If you’re looking for dedicated servers, then we recommend you check out InMotion Hosting. Their commercial class servers and support are amazing.

After buying your new hosting, do NOT install WordPress. We’ll do that in a later step. For now, your new web host account should be completely empty, with no files or folders in your main directory.

Step 2: Set Up Duplicator for Easy Migration

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the free Duplicator plugin on the website that you want to move.

Duplicator is a free plugin that we highly recommend. We’ve written in the past about how to use Duplicator to move your WordPress site to a new domain name without losing your SEO rankings.

However, in this article we will walk you through how to use it to migrate your WordPress site with zero downtime. The process is similar, but this guide will focus on moving your hosting, while the other guide focuses on switching to a new domain (such as from www.oldsite.com to www.newsite.com).

Once you have installed and activated Duplicator, go to the Duplicator » Packages section in your WordPress admin area.

Next, you need to click the Create New button in the top right corner.

After that, click the Next button and follow the steps to create your package.

Make sure that your scan results check out (everything should say “Good”), and then click the Build button. The process may take several minutes to complete, so leave the tab open as it works.

Once the process is complete, you need to click on both the Installer and then the Archive buttons to download the package. You will need both files.

The archive file is a copy of your site, and the installer file will automate the installation process for you.

Step 3: Import Your WordPress Site to Your New Host

Now that you have downloaded both the archive and installer files, the next step is to upload them to your new web host.

Note: When setting up your FTP client to connect to your new web host, keep in mind that your domain name still points to your old web host. That means you’ll need to enter the IP address of your new host instead of your domain. This is to ensure that these files go to the new host rather than the old host.

Using your FTP client, upload both installer.php file and your archive .zip file to the root directory of your website. This is usually /username/public_html/ or /username/public_html/example.com where example.com is your domain name.

If you’re not sure, just ask your web hosting company.

Make sure that your root directory is completely empty. If you have WordPress installed in your root directory, then you need to delete WordPress first.

Step 4: Change The Hosts File to Prevent Downtime

Once you’ve uploaded both files to your new host, you need to access the installer.php file in a browser.

The file can be accessed using a URL like this:

http://www.example.com/installer.php

However, the problem is this URL will take you to your old web host, and you will get a 404 error. This is because your domain name is still pointing to your old web host.

Normally, folks will tell you to change your domain nameservers and point to your new host. However, that will result in your users seeing a broken website as you migrate it.

We’ll show you how you can access your new site temporarily on your computer, without affecting your old site.

This is done with a hosts file on your computer.

The hosts file maps domain names to specific IP addresses. In this step, we will show you how to add an entry for your domain name in the hosts file so that it points to your new host, but only when using your computer.

Making these changes will allow you to access the files on your new host using your own domain name, while the rest of the world will still be accessing your site from the old host. This ensures 100% uptime.

The first thing you need to do is find the IP address of your new web hosting server. To find this, you need to log into your cPanel dashboard and click on expand stats link in the left-hand sidebar. This will expand the sidebar showing you information about the status of your server. The information you need to copy is the Shared IP Address.

In the next step, Windows users need to go to Programs » All Programs » Accessories, right click on Notepad and select Run as Administrator. A Windows UAC prompt will appear, and you need to click on Yes to launch Notepad with administrator privileges.

On the Notepad screen, go to File » Open and then go to C:WindowsSystem32driversetc. Select hosts file and open it.

Mac users will need to open the Terminal app and enter this command to edit hosts file:

sudo nano /private/etc/hosts

For both Windows and Mac users, at the bottom of the hosts file, you need to enter the IP address you copied and then enter your domain name. Like this:

192.168.1.22 www.example.com

Make sure that you replace the IP address with the one you copied from cPanel, and example.com with your own domain name. Save your changes, and you can now access your files on the new host using your domain name on your computer.

Important: Don’t forget to undo the changes you made to hosts file after you have finished the migration (step 5).

Step 5: Begin the Duplicator Migration Process

Now we’re ready to run the installer. Navigate to this address in your browser window, replacing example.com with your domain name:

http://www.example.com/installer.php

If you have not already created a database on your new host, then it is time for you to create a database in cPanel. Be sure to make note of the database username and password.

Once you have created the database, you will need to enter the database information in the fields below and then click on the Test Connection button.

If the installer fails to connect to your database, then check the values you entered above and make sure they are correct.

Once you have successfully connected to your database, scroll down to read the warnings and notices and check the box confirming you’ve read them. Then click the Run Deployment button.

The installer will now import your database. The process may take several minutes, so keep the tab open as it works.

In step 2 of the installer, you’ll be asked to verify your old and new URL paths. Make sure it’s accurate and click Run Update to update your URLs.

In the final step, you can complete the process and verify that everything is working correctly by clicking the buttons in order.

Important: Now you can remove the changes you made to your hosts file in step 4.

Step 6: Update Your Domain

At this point, you’ve created a complete copy of your WordPress database and files on your new hosting server. But your domain still points to your old web hosting account.

To update your domain, you need to switch your DNS nameservers. This ensures that your users are taken to the new location of your website when they type your domain into their browsers.

If you registered your domain with your hosting provider, then it’s best to transfer the domain to the new host. If you used a domain registrar like Godaddy, Namecheap, etc, then you need to update your nameservers.

You will need the nameserver information from your new web host. This is usually a couple of URLs that look like this:

ns1.hostname.comns2.hostname.com

For the sake of this guide, we will be showing you how to change DNS nameservers with GoDaddy. Depending on your domain registrar or web host, the screenshots may not reflect the setup on your registrar or web host. However the basic concept is the same.

Just look for domain management area and then look for nameservers. If you need assistance with updating your nameservers, you can ask your web hosting company.

First you need to login to your Godaddy account and then click on the launch button next to domains.

On the next screen, click on your domain name. You will see your domain details, along with your nameservers. You need to click on the manage link under the nameservers.

On the next screen, you will see a link to enter custom nameservers. Clicking on the link will open a form where you can enter your custom DNS nameservers.

Save your changes and you’re done.

You have successfully changed the nameservers. DNS changes can take 4 – 48 hours to propagate for all users.

Now since you have the same content on your old host and the new host, your users wouldn’t see any difference. Your WordPress migration will be seamless with absolutely no downtime.

To be on the safe side, you can wait to cancel your old hosting account until 7 days after your migration.

We hope that this step by step guide helped you move WordPress to your new host with no downtime whatsoever. If you come across any issues with your WordPress migration, then check out our guide on the most common WordPress errors and how to fix them.

]]>Do you want to setup Google AMP on your WordPress site? Accelerated mobile pages or AMP is a way to make your website load faster on mobile devices. Fast loading websites offer better user experience and can improve your traffic. In this article, we will show you how to set up Google AMP in WordPress.

What is Google AMP?

Google AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages. It is an open source initiative supported by technology companies like Google and Twitter. The goal of the project is to make web content load faster for mobile users.

For many mobile users, reading on the web is often slow. Most content rich pages take several seconds to load despite all efforts taken by site owners to speed up their website.

Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP uses bare minimal HTML and limited Javascript. This allows the content to be hosted on Google AMP Cache. Google can then serve this cached version to users instantly when they click on your link in the search results.

It is very similar to Facebook Instant Articles. However, Instant Articles are limited only to Facebook’s platform, more specifically to their mobile app.

Accelerated Mobile Pages are platform-agnostic and can be used by any app, browser, or web viewer. Currently it is used by Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, and others.

Pros and Cons of Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)

SEO experts claim that Accelerated Mobile Pages will help you rank higher in Google, and it improves the user experience for mobile users on slow internet connections. However, they are several challenges for website owners, bloggers, and marketers.

AMP uses limited set of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. This means you cannot add certain widgets and features to your mobile AMP website. This limits your ability to add smart email optin forms, facebook like boxes, and other dynamic scripts.

Despite its limitations, Google is pushing AMP pages by giving them a boost in mobile search.

If significant chunk of your traffic comes from mobile searches, then you may benefit from adding AMP support to improve and maintain your SEO.

Note: There have been a few complaints about Google AMP by bloggers.

First is by Alex Kras who claim that you can potentially lose mobile traffic if you enable Google AMP. Read the article thoroughly because that’s a huge problem, and despite what the Google Tech Lead for AMP project has said, there aren’t any good solutions that address the issue in our opinion.

Second is by Terrence Eden which highlights the difficulties of switching back from Google AMP should you change your mind in the future. We don’t believe this is a major issue because you can do a 301 redirect which several have pointed out in the comment section of his blog posts, but nonetheless it is something you need to think about.

For the reasons above, we are not switching WPBeginner to Google AMP just yet.

However since several of our readers asked about how to setup Google AMP in WordPress, we have created a step by step process on how to setup Accelerated Mobile Pages in WordPress.

]]>http://www.fahlstad.se/how-to-properly-setup-google-amp-on-your-wordpress-site/feed/0Moving Toward SSLhttp://www.fahlstad.se/moving-toward-ssl/
http://www.fahlstad.se/moving-toward-ssl/#commentsThu, 01 Dec 2016 17:20:29 +0000https://wordpress.org/news/?p=4588We’re at a turning point: 2017 is going to be the year that we’re going to see features in WordPress which require hosts to have SSL available, just as Javascript is an almost necessity for smoother user experiences and more modern PHP versions for performance, SSL just makes sense as the next hurdle our users are going to face.

SSL basically means the link between your browser and the server is encrypted. SSL used to be difficult to implement, and often expensive or slow. Modern browsers, and the incredible success of projects like Let’s Encrypt have made getting a certificate to secure your site fast, free, and something we think every host should support by default, especially in a post-Snowden era. Google also weighs SSL as a search engine ranking factor and will begin flagging unencrypted sites in Chrome.

First, early in 2017, we will only promote hosting partners that provide a SSL certificate by default in their accounts. Later we will begin to assess which features, such as API authentication, would benefit the most from SSL and make them only enabled when SSL is there.

Separately, I also think the performance improvements in PHP7 are particularly impressive, and major kudos to everyone who worked on that. We will consider whether hosts use PHP7 by default for new accounts next year as well.

]]>http://www.fahlstad.se/moving-toward-ssl/feed/0How to Add Post Type Archive in WordPress Navigation Menushttp://www.fahlstad.se/how-to-add-post-type-archive-in-wordpress-navigation-menus/
http://www.fahlstad.se/how-to-add-post-type-archive-in-wordpress-navigation-menus/#commentsThu, 01 Dec 2016 09:56:55 +0000http://www.wpbeginner.com/?p=39152Recently, one of our readers asked if it was possible to add a link to custom post type archive pages in WordPress navigation menus. An archive page in WordPress displays a list of all posts under a specific post type, category, or tag. In this… Read More »

]]>Recently, one of our readers asked if it was possible to add a link to custom post type archive pages in WordPress navigation menus. An archive page in WordPress displays a list of all posts under a specific post type, category, or tag. In this article, we will show you how to add post type archive in WordPress navigation menus.

RC means we think we’re done, but with millions of users and thousands of plugins and themes, it’s possible we’ve missed something. We hope to ship WordPress 4.7 on Tuesday, December 6, but we need your help to get there. If you haven’t tested 4.7 yet, now is the time! To test WordPress 4.7, you can use the WordPress Beta Tester plugin or you can download the release candidate here (zip).

WordPress 4.7 is a jam-packed release, with a number of features focused on getting a theme set up for the first time. Highlights include a new default theme, video headers, custom CSS, customizer edit shortcuts, PDF thumbnail previews, user admin languages, REST API content endpoints, post type templates, and more.

We’ve made quite a few refinements since releasing Beta 4 a week ago, including usability and accessibility enhancements for video headers, media and page template support in starter content, and polishing of how custom CSS can be migrated to and extended by plugins and themes. The REST API endpoints saw a number of bugfixes and notably now have anonymous comment off by default.

Not sure where to start with testing? Try setting up a fresh site on a new installation with Twenty Seventeen (hint: head into customizing your site before touching any pages or widgets) and taking notes on what you enjoyed and what got you stuck. For more details about what’s new in version 4.7, check out the Beta 1, Beta 2, Beta 3, and Beta 4 blog posts.

Developers, please test your plugins and themes against WordPress 4.7 and update your plugin’s Tested up to version in the readme to 4.7. If you find compatibility problems please be sure to post to the support forums so we can figure those out before the final release – we work hard to avoid breaking things. An in-depth field guide to developer-focused changes is coming soon on the core development blog.

This software is still in development, so we don’t recommend you run it on a production site. Consider setting up a test site just to play with the new version. To test WordPress 4.7, try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”). Or you can download the beta here (zip).

The title says it all. We had some great applications for cities to host WordCamp US after we finish up in Philadelphia this year, and the city chosen for 2017-2018 is Nashville, Tennessee.

Based on the other great applications we got I’m also excited about the pipeline of communities that could host it in future years as WordCamp US travels across the United States and gives us an opportunity to learn and love a new city, as we have with Philadelphia.

]]>http://www.fahlstad.se/wordcamp-us-2017-2018-in-nashville/feed/0How to Improve WordPress Email Deliverability with SendGridhttp://www.fahlstad.se/how-to-improve-wordpress-email-deliverability-with-sendgrid/
http://www.fahlstad.se/how-to-improve-wordpress-email-deliverability-with-sendgrid/#commentsFri, 11 Nov 2016 11:18:50 +0000http://www.wpbeginner.com/?p=37805Do you want to improve email deliverability from your WordPress site? Often web hosting providers don’t have properly configured mail settings, which blocks WordPress from sending emails. In this article, we will show you how to improve WordPress email deliverability with SendGrid. The Problem with… Read More »

]]>Do you want to improve email deliverability from your WordPress site? Often web hosting providers don’t have properly configured mail settings, which blocks WordPress from sending emails. In this article, we will show you how to improve WordPress email deliverability with SendGrid.

The Problem with Emails in WordPress

By default, WordPress uses the PHP mail function to send out emails. Many WordPress hosting providers do not have this function configured properly. Some even block it to make sure that their servers aren’t used to send spam.

This becomes problematic for site owners because their WordPress site fails to send some or all emails.

Having said that, let’s take a look at how to improve WordPress email deliverability with SendGrid (for free).

What is SendGrid?

SendGrid is an email service provider. They offer highly optimized email servers that you can use to send out your emails.

They offer both transactional email service (one-to-one emails like WordPress notices, order receipts, password resets, etc.) and email marketing services.

Like all good email service providers, SendGrid spends significant resources to improve deliverability. This ensures that your WordPress emails land in your users’ inboxes, instead of being marked as spam. This is why companies like Uber, Spotify, Airbnb, Yelp, and thousands of others use SendGrid.

Sending WordPress Emails Using SendGrid

To set up SendGrid to work with your WordPress site, first you’ll need to visit the SendGrid website and sign up for an account.

SendGrid is a paid service, but they also offer a free plan which allows you to send up to 12,000 emails each month. That’s plenty for most small to medium-sized websites.

As your site grows, you can upgrade to their paid plan. It starts at $9.90 per month for up to 40,000 emails. You can scale your pricing based on how many emails you need to send every month, but in our experience the free plan is sufficient for most folks.

In other optional settings, you can choose to use email templates from SendGrid website and add their template ID in plugin settings. You can also create and use categories for emails you send through WordPress.

Don’t forget to click on the Save Changes button to store your settings.